24/7 Campaign - Debrief Minutes
Nisreen Kaj
Dear all,
We had the debriefing meeting on Friday, May 8, and although it is very late, we
are sending you the minutes of the meeting, as well as some other
updates. In attendance were Stephano, Hayeon, Nisreen, Nay, Nadim, Rola,
Ali, Farah and Sofia.
If I missed anyone please let me know.
1. A preliminary budget sheet was distributed, and when
everything was added up, the total amount came to US$2572 (The
surplus is mostly from the African Dance Party which made almost US$3000).
However, at the moment, Hayeon has $1900 because most probably
some spending was not accounted for and Kazamaza magazine has not yet paid its
contribution of US$500. However, that still leaves us with a shortfall of $172.
Also, Nisreen and Hayeon were wondering if they could be reimbursed for phone
bills for calling people for 24/7: Hayeon would like to be reimbursed US$75 and
Nisreen would like US$30. It's not a problem if they cannot get reimbursed,
since it was not in the original budget, but if they could, that would be
great. If you
need explanations on how these figures were estimated, please ask.
2. Message and advocacy methods: In general, we should have planned
the entire campaign in way that ties up all the events with one common message.
Because the posters and other organizational aspects, as well as unforeseen
circumstances, many of the events were not as tightly linked as they should
have been. For example, it was pointed out that while the African Dance Party
was very well-organized, there were lost opportunities to link the
event to the whole 24/7 campaign and what it's trying to do. Same goes
for the Souk el Tayyeb and free concert, where we did not have flyers that
could have been distributed or posters to decorate in the background, to really
tightly link everything together. But Nisreen also pointed out that the it was
also enough that people came to these events and experienced African and Asian
culture in a different way, that was enough, since one of the main aims of 24/7
was to break stereotypes. In general, however, it was agreed that more
flyers and posters at the events would have been helpful in promoting
and linking the events to each other.
3. Mobilization: The solidarity march had only 50 people,
and although we had a group of Nepalis and some domestic workers, in general,
the turnout was disappointing. It was suggested that representatives of all the
NGOs of 24/7 should have been there (less than half was), since it was the most
traditional form of advocacy, but Nadim pointed out that mobilization in Lebanon in
general is a difficult thing for NGOs, even if the cause is Lebanese. The
target for mobilization was also debated, i.e., whether it is the domestic
worker communities or the Lebanese, but in general, it was concluded that we
could do better next time in mobilizing domestic worker communities.
4. Organization: Hayeon said that there was a lack of ownership of
the campaign throughout, and that if we do something similar next time, we
should have task forces to divide the labor and get things efficiently. But
Nadim suggested that since there are just so many people in the group, it is
actually better to keep the group a loose coalition, and if task forces are to
be organized, there needs to be a coordinator, which in turn, would not make
the group equal. Perhaps before this issue, #5 should be discussed.
5. Should the 24/7 coalition stay together? The willingness of
so many NGOs to work on the issue of migrant domestic workers is highly
positive. Nadim said that it is
important to continue the collaboration but felt that a loose coalition (coming
together around certain events) is the best way to continue the work (as
opposed to something more structured.) While the Labor Day
events were for the first time, and hopefully we could learn from our mistakes,
this matter should be discussed further.
6. Where to use the money: While there were a variety of suggestions (legal case, prison food for domestic workers etc), Nadim pointed out that the money should be used in something proactive rather than reactive and reinforcing of the status quo. So he suggested perhaps we can start an office space for community leaders to come and use the phone and internet etc, since most community leaders pay out of their pocket. The consensus at the end of the meeting was that we meet with community leaders to see what their priorities are. The other idea we discussed is whether we can transform this into a more regular revenue generating enterprise.
In the past week, on the other hand, Simba met with Insan, and with the amount available, around 6 children can go to school for a year. Simba, Nisreen and Hayeon agreed that this might be easier in terms of logistic. At the same time, in this way, the money would be used to help a system that is already there, while being proactive about the problem of domestic workers, by helping to educate their children. Also, Simba and Nisreen are participating in another event called Muevete III, cooking African and Asian food, and they said that they would add any additional money made to the budget so more children could be supported. However, Hayeon bumped into Aimee a few days ago, and she suggested that we should have a meeting next Friday or so with all the other community leaders to discuss what they would like. What does everyone think?
Cosv Beirut
Dear Nisreen and all,
first of all thanks for the notes and the work done.
In general terms
I think we did a valuable job as I consider it as a good starting point for a
fruitful collaboration on the important issue
of domestic workers’ rights. In
fact, despite the limited visibility and participation to the march,
working
together has represented a good occasion for a common brainstorming on how to
face
one of the most heinous problems of respect of human rights in Lebanon.
This being so,
and willing to learn from our mistakes and weaknesses,
I think we should keep
thinking on the possibility to organize common initiatives with the 24/7 logo,
if not on a periodical basis, at least before the 1st of May 2011!
As for the meeting,
let us know if something is in program this Friday (or next one).
I agree to
meet with the community leaders (which is always a way to confront positions
and listen their concerns)
and to let them decide how to better devolve the money left, better if for proactive purposes.
Best,
Stefano Moschini
COSV
Lebanon Country Coordinator
tel/fax: 961 1 288717
Mob: 961 70 154763
Skype: cosv-stefano-libano
www.cosv.org
Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 16:00:34 +0300
From: f.s...@anmag.org
To: nisre...@gmail.com
CC: yeo...@gmail.com; awa...@hrw.org; ghada....@kafa.org.lb; amrit...@gmail.com; bpi...@cldh-lebanon.org; cjo...@cldh-lebanon.org; publicrela...@gmail.com; cosv_...@hotmail.com; kathlee...@prontis.com; kbok...@gmail.com; mda...@cldh-lebanon.org; rola.abi...@kafa.org.lb; rma...@crtda.org.lb; roula...@gmail.com; cos...@hotmail.com; tarsl...@insanlb.org; zeina...@gmail.com; co...@indyact.org; kch...@crtda.org.lb; in...@insanlb.org; simbar...@gmail.com; 24-7ca...@googlegroups.com; hou...@hrw.org; aim...@hotmail.com; dipendr...@hotmail.com; dipendr...@yahoo.com; vipc...@yahoo.com; le...@na-am.org
Subject: Re: 24/7 Campaign - Debrief Minutes
Hi and thanks for the notes,
I think we should let the community leaders decide. That is what we agreed on in the last meeting.
And in any case, we should have this meeting for whoever is interested to see if we are continuing the joint effort on the below or not.
So let us call for a meeting this Friday (or the one after if this is too short notice) to go over the pending points below and to meet with Aimee and other comm. leaders.
Salam,
F
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